


Boys Are Kinda Hot

by gayshiit



Category: IT (2017), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Coming Out, Drunken Confessions, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Gay, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, IT - Freeform, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Movie: IT (2017), Oneshot, Reddie, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Short, it chapter one, reddie oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:48:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22985080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayshiit/pseuds/gayshiit
Summary: A very drunk Eddie comes out to his friends and Richie confronts him about it later.“I never thought I’d see the day that Eddie Kaspbrak admits boys are hot.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 14
Kudos: 147





	Boys Are Kinda Hot

Eddie hadn’t really been planning on getting drunk that night. He swore he was a sensible person at least 97% of the time, but maybe the moonlight dancing over his friends’ flushed faces and the summer breeze that was almost too warm to be considered refreshing plastering strands of hair across sweaty foreheads had changed his mind.

It felt good to let loose for once. Eddie wasn’t exactly “uptight”; at least, he wouldn’t call himself that. His friends would argue that he was the most “boring” of the group, but he decided a better word for it would be “practical”. However, Eddie had no time for being practical tonight. He’d started off just taking a few reluctant sips from Richie’s beer, which quickly turned into him sculling a whole bottle of it while the rest of the group, featuring a very impressed Richie, encouraged him on. Now he was far past the point of tipsy. He was fucking _wasted_ , so much so that his usually rational brain didn’t even begin to process how horrible of an idea it was to scramble clumsily onto a conveniently placed tree stump and wave his hands above his head to gain everyone’s attention.

“Can I- Everyone look at me! I have something to fucking say.” Eddie teetered precariously on the edge of the stump. Richie lunged forward to steady the boy before he stumbled right off.

“If you fall and die I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Richie slurred. He twisted one of his hands into the fabric of Eddie’s shirt while the other clutched a half-empty beer bottle to his chest. Eddie regained some composure and checked that all six pairs of eyes were on him before continuing.

“I have something to say,” he repeated.

“Fucking say it then.” Stan rolled his eyes. He, along with Ben and Mike, were not nearly as drunk as the other four. Perhaps it was for the best that at least three of them remained sober enough to think relatively clearly.

Eddie cleared his throat and attempted to snatch the bottle from Richie’s hand, but his clouded vision and terrible hand-eye coordination caused it to fall and smash against the dirt, shards of glass flying every which way. Neither of them batted an eyelid.

“Okay. So basically, I just wanna say that I think you all should know something.” The words rolling off Eddie’s tongue now were most definitely not in his control. Maybe there was a tiny voice in the furthest corner of his brain that was screaming at him to shut the fuck up, or perhaps that was just the ringing in his ears growing louder with every passing second. Either way, he continued as confidently as possible. “So… it’s kinda funny because… Remember when Bowers used to fuckin’ call us fags and push us over and shit? Like _yonks_ ago?”

“Before he w-went fucking insane, yeah,” Bill piped up in an attempt to advance the story along.

Eddie swayed on the spot but was again steadied by Richie’s arm. “Yeah, well I think he was fucking right about me being a fag! What the fuck?”

The pitch of Eddie’s voice had gradually increased with each sentence he slurred from between chapped pink lips. Everyone was quiet, just watching and waiting as the disaster that was drunk Eddie Kaspbrak unfolded before them like a live-action film.

“I’m fucking _gay_!” He emphasised the last word as if it was something bittersweet dripping from his tongue; as if he was proud, but not quite sure if he was allowed to be.

No one spoke for a painful ten seconds, until Beverly’s voice sliced through the silence. “Okay. I’m happy for ya, Eds.”

There was really no other way to react. What were they supposed to say? “Congratulations”? “Good for you”? “It’s not exactly a surprise but we’re proud of you nonetheless”? Perhaps this tipsy bewilderment was what led to Ben bringing his palms together in a slow round of applause, which was instantly echoed by the rest of the group. Eddie wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh or cry, so he settled on emitting a sound somewhere in between a cackle and a choke.

While the applause now morphed into cheers and a few uncertain whoops, Eddie let his gaze travel downwards to observe the fact that Richie wasn’t holding onto his shirt anymore. He wasn’t clapping along either. The boy with the dark hair and the usually bright eyes was staring down at his sneakers, and Eddie couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or the worst thing in the world. Actually, the only thing Eddie could tell for sure right now was that the contents of his stomach were not going to remain inside of his stomach for much longer, and he needed to do something about that.

The ongoing ovation was promptly replaced by groans of disgust as Eddie spun on his heel and puked rather ungracefully into the bushes behind him.

~

It was with an immense amount of confusion, and something that felt a lot like regret, that a much more sober Eddie set himself down on that same goddamn tree stump later that night; or he could probably take a wild guess and say in the ungodly hours of the following morning. The rest of the group were sprawled, in varied stages of sleep and questionable positions, down in the clubhouse, none of which Eddie imagined could possibly be comfortable or hygienic.

He pulled one of his legs up to his chest and, with the other, kicked up a cloud of dirt. Right now, life would’ve been a whole lot easier if he was still the pragmatic, irritating little thirteen year old hypochondriac who would’ve had a panic attack if he was even offered alcohol. But he wasn’t. He was almost seventeen, and although he knew he could still be incredibly irritating, he didn’t carry around his inhaler and collection of bullshit pills everywhere he went, and there was something about that fact that made Eddie hyper-aware of how much he’d changed in the past few years, both physically and psychologically.

He knew he wasn’t the only one who had changed, though. He might have grown the most out of the group, but he was still nowhere close to the tallest. The other boys remained what felt like heads taller than him, while Beverly hadn’t grown an inch since she was thirteen. At least he had someone to bully for being smaller than him.

Eddie’s head was so high in the clouds now that he didn’t notice when a figure emerged from the entrance of the clubhouse and timidly approached him from behind. He only turned his head when the person came to a halt in his peripheral vision, and even then he couldn’t make out who it was in the darkness.

“Eddie Spaghetti.”

The nickname was an immediate giveaway, and Eddie’s stomach bubbled with an emotion he still couldn’t put his finger on. “Richie.”

The boy and his mop of unruly dark hair made himself comfortable on the tree stump beside Eddie. His breath caught as their knees knocked together and Richie’s arm found its way around Eddie’s shoulders. “It’s fucking cold out here.”

Shrugging, Eddie silently thanked whatever Gods might be out there that the darkness made it impossible for Richie to see the blush now flooding his cheeks.

“It’s not that cold, pussy.”

Eddie knew Richie was rolling his eyes despite not being able to see his face.

“Okay, freak, at least let me use you for warmth.”

Eddie shoved his shoulder against Richie’s, and the taller boy retaliated by pinching Eddie’s side until he began to squirm.

“Fuck off,” Eddie grumbled, quite breathless now, if he was being honest, for more than one reason.

It was silent for a few seconds, the wind rustling the leaves above their heads now the only sound, which made the awkward silence quite peaceful. Until Richie cleared his throat.

“Did you mean what you said?”

Eddie swallowed hard. “Uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He decided playing dumb was his best option. Perhaps Richie had been so wasted that his memory was too hazy to remember the details.

He was instantly proved wrong. “You said you were gay. Were you just fucked and messing around or did you mean it?”

Although Eddie knew his friend wouldn’t think any different of him after admitting the truth, there was still an annoying little voice in the far corner of his mind that was telling him that Richie hated him now. In fact, it might have been the same little voice that was shouting at him to shut the fuck up when he was spilling his guts… both verbally and literally.

But Eddie couldn’t just sit there and lie to Richie’s face. The truth was already out there, and even if it was possible to pass it off as him being a little too drunk, he might as well just come clean and let the weight he’d been carrying around with him for over four years finally drop off his shoulders.

So he shrugged. “I guess I meant it.” His voice was low and his head was bowed as if he had something to be ashamed of. But Richie didn’t seem to think so, because his hand somehow found its way to Eddie’s chin and he tilted the smaller boy’s head back up to his eye level. If Eddie squinted hard enough, he could just make out the curves of Richie’s nose and lips, as well as a familiar warm glint peeking through the shadows in his eyes.

“Well, that’s awesome. I’m fucking proud of you, dude.”

Eddie felt his heart swell to double its size and he mumbled a thanks under his breath. Richie removed his hand from Eddie’s chin, trusting him to maintain their eye contact. 

“I think you’re so brave for doing that. Like, I could never.”

Eddie nudged their thighs together. “I wasn’t really planning on it,” he chuckled hoarsely. Richie laughed as well, but his was more high-pitched and even seemed the slightest bit forced.

“I kinda just wanted to ask you something though, if you don’t mind.” Eddie’s eyes followed Richie’s tongue as he licked over his cracked lips. 

“I don’t mind.”

“Okay.” A moment of silence passed as Richie gathered his thoughts. “How did you, like… know?”

Eddie felt his limbs turn to jelly and he tore his eyes away from Richie’s. He couldn’t really say all the things he wanted to say without scaring Richie off, so he settled on something a bit more cliché.

“Dunno, guess I’ve just always known.” Then, for humour’s sake, he added, “Boys are kinda hot, ya know?”

Richie snorted, and Eddie felt a sense of accomplishment settle at the bottom of his stomach.

“I never thought I’d see the day that Eddie Kaspbrak admits boys are hot.”

The irritating blush reappeared on Eddie’s cheeks and he pressed cool fingers to his face to urge it away. He’d never imagined having this conversation with his best friend, but he supposed there was a first time for everything.

Richie twisted his fingers into the hem of his shirt. “Eds.”

“Hm?”

“What if I think boys are kinda hot too?”

It was at this moment that Eddie felt the world start spinning around him. It was as if the Earth had suddenly been flung from its orbit and he was standing there trying to keep his balance as the planet was hurled far off into space. He couldn’t even tell if it was a bad feeling, but he was sure it probably wasn’t, because what could ever be bad about Richie Tozier saying boys are hot? Thirteen year old Eddie was losing his fucking mind right now, because what the fuck? Richie liked boys, which meant there was a possibility of him liking Eddie back. But… no, because sixteen year old Eddie was so much cooler than that. He’d finally learnt to accept that Richie was his _best friend_ , and that was just how things were. He’d learnt to bottle up feelings that could never be reciprocated. No, he was cool now. He was cool.

“Oh.” The word came out in a completely not cool, high-pitched squeak that made Eddie want to die, but before he could do such a thing, Richie was grabbing Eddie’s face in both hands and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. And that was when Eddie felt someone setting fireworks off in his chest.

It was only short. Just a peck on the lips. Definitely not as long as Eddie would have hoped for, but a kiss nonetheless. 

“I’m so sorry,” Richie sputtered, running shaky hands through his hair. “That was so fucking weird of me, Eds, I’m s-”

Eddie wondered what the fuck had come over him when he found himself crashing his lips against Richie’s once more. This time, it was messy and passionate and really _really_ hot, and Eddie was getting so flustered that he could barely contain himself when Richie nibbled on his lower lip. He’d been waiting for this moment for four fucking years and now it was here and Eddie could’ve laughed and cried and vomited all at the same time. Richie was tangling his fingers in Eddie’s curls now, which was doing more for him than he would’ve liked to admit. Eddie wondered if time was even still a concept at this point because surely the rest of the world had frozen along with this moment. Surely this wasn’t even real.

Richie pulled away first. His lips were swollen and Eddie guessed his face was flushed a bright shade of pink. He cursed the moon for not casting more light.

“What the fuck.”

Those were really the only words appropriate for what had just happened.

Eddie’s hands were shaking and his palms were sweating and although he definitely could’ve used his inhaler right now, being breathless like this was somehow the best feeling in the world.

“Do you like me, Eds?”

Just when Eddie thought his heart might be slowing back down to a normal pace, Richie had to go and ask him _this_. “No I fucking hate you.”

Richie giggled, but hesitantly, as if he was actually considering the fact that Eddie might secretly hate his guts or something.

“I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t like you, dipshit.”

Richie’s lips twitched with the hint of a grin. “Well, you’re pretty good at kissing. I mean, not as good as your mom but-”

“Shut the fuck up. We were having a moment and you fucking ruined it. You always fucking do this. Why would you say that?”

Richie erupted into laughter at Eddie’s semi-sarcastic outburst, making a grab for the smaller boy’s hands and squeezing them gently. He rubbed circles with his thumbs over the backs of Eddie’s palms. “All jokes aside, tell me how long you’ve liked me, Eds.”

It was still so surreal to Eddie that any of this was actually happening, and he was kind of convinced that he was in some sort of parallel dimension in which the literal love of his life felt the same way.

“I don’t know.”

But the thing was, Eddie _did_ know. He knew the exact moment he’d fallen head over heels for Richie Tozier, but the last thing he wanted to do was get all sentimental in front of the guy. He tried to force the memories out of his brain; memories of thirteen year old Richie treading water a few feet away from him, hair plastered across his forehead and eyes screwed up in an attempt to actually see shit without his glasses. He tried to forget the way Richie’s mouth did that little half-smile twitch thing and his eyes lit up in a way they only ever would when he was looking at Eddie. He tried to forget all of those little things that made Richie so fucking perfect, because he could never know Eddie had been pining after him for four years. That would be humiliating, and tremendously damaging to Eddie’s “cool guy” facade. So, for now, he stuck with the simple lie of “I don’t know”.

Richie’s face sort of fell in a way that made Eddie feel like he’d been punched in the gut. Fuck, he really couldn’t do this to the guy. Being cool was overrated, right? Maybe he should just come clean.

“Oh. But like, you’re not doing this just because I said I like guys, right? You do _actually_ like me?”

_Fuck fuck fuck._

“I don’t like you.” 

_Shut the fuck up Eddie what are you doing._

“Oh.” Richie let go of Eddie’s hands and pushed his glasses further up his nose. “That’s okay but-”

“Richie,” Eddie really _really_ didn’t wanna be that guy who made everything sappy but it was way too late to stop now and he was on a fucking role. “I fucking love you. Like so much. And I know that’s probably like a really crazy thing to say but I think I’ve loved you since that time at the quarry when everyone left and it was just us and you looked at me with those stupid fucking eyes and your stupid shitty smile and I remember thinking ‘what if I kissed him right now’ but I couldn’t because… I just fucking couldn’t.” Eddie gasped for air, hands scrambling into his pockets out of habit in search of the inhaler he knew wasn’t there. Richie hadn’t spoken yet, so he finished off with a whispered, “So yeah.”

Richie’s ongoing silence was confirmation for Eddie that he’d fucked up. He had literally just poured his entire heart out in a single breath and scared the guy off after having the best (and only) fucking kiss of his entire life. His eyes willed Richie to say something, anything, even if it was the worst thing in the world.

And then, when Eddie knew for sure that he was about to implode, Richie spoke.

“Can I kiss you again?”

Of course, Eddie nodded and leaned in while simultaneously feeling his muscles relax and his insides unclench. And somehow this kiss was even better than the last.

“This is for that time at the quarry.” Richie breathed the words against Eddie’s lips, making him shiver despite being the hottest he’d ever felt. “Because I would’ve kissed you back.”

They kissed until the very first splash of colour painted the indigo sky orange and slivers of pale golden light danced over their skin, reminding Eddie of just how beautiful Richie was. Honestly, they probably could have stayed there like that for the rest of the morning if the sound of rustling and hushed whispers from behind them hadn’t caused them to break apart.

“Eddie and Richie?” The incredulous voice had both boys turning their heads at the speed of light, eyes squinting to make out Stanley and Mike stumbling towards them from the clubhouse entrance.

“What’re you guys doing?” Richie’s tone was frantic, although he didn’t push Eddie away from him.

“We were just going to take a piss, what the hell are _you_ guys doing?” Mike raised his eyebrows and elbowed Stanley in the ribs.

Eddie shrugged and nestled further into Richie’s side. “We’re just chilling.”

“I fucking knew it,” Stan murmured under his breath, and this time Mike elbowed him even harder.

“Fucking knew what?” Beverly’s head appeared from where she was probably balancing on the ladder inside the clubhouse. Her curious eyes met Richie’s, and he swallowed and averted his gaze to his lap. Eddie felt sort of bad. Was it his fault if Richie got outed to their friends? Well, he _had_ been the one making out with him at 4am only a few yards from where everyone else was sleeping… so probably.

“There’s nothing to know,” Eddie chimed in matter-of-factly. “Rich and I are just hanging out.”

“What, like your tongue hanging out inside Richie’s m-”

“Shut up, Stanley.” Beverly pulled herself to her feet and made a beeline for Eddie and Richie, who were both obviously terrified. Eddie had his fingers twisted in Richie’s shirt but made no move to untangle them.

Bev’s expression softened as she approached them, observing the way in which Eddie was literally clinging to Richie for dear life. She stopped beside the tree trunk they were perched on and reached out to comb Eddie’s hair back from where it was falling in ringlets over his face. “Eddie, I wanna say that I’m proud of you for doing what you did last night.”

“What, puking everywhere?” Richie mumbled in an attempt to make light of the situation. Bev gave him an unimpressed look and he shut up.

“Also, I think that we can all agree that we don’t care what you and Rich have as long as you’re both happy.” Bev giggled. “As cheesy as that sounds.”

Mike stepped forwards now, wringing his hands in front of him. “Yeah, exactly. What Bev said.” Stanley nodded in agreement.

An odd feeling began to bubble in Eddie’s stomach. He felt as if he wanted to tell his friends everything about him and Richie, but at the same time, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather _not_ do. But to his absolute astonishment, the taller boy spoke before he even needed to consider doing so.

“Yeah, well it’s probably exactly what you’re thinking.” Richie pressed a swift kiss against Eddie’s cheek, ignoring Stan’s little squeak of excitement. “I fucking love this little dude, okay? That feels so weird to say because, like, the amount of times I’ve fucked his mom is just-”

“Richie!” Eddie and Bev groaned in unison, although Eddie had to admit that Richie saying that he loved him was the best thing he’d ever heard in his life, and that was not an exaggeration. He felt Richie’s arm settle around his shoulders and squeeze him firmly.

“Jesus, calm down,” Richie said through a smug grin. Eddie wanted to punch him and kiss the fuck out of him at the same time and it was all way too confusing, so he settled for a soft poke in the side.

“Hey, you know what they say.” Stan inspected his fingernails and attempted to hold back his own smile. “All the best groups have at least two gays.”

Mike hit him on the shoulder. “Literally no one has ever said that.”

As laughter rang through his ears, Eddie couldn’t help but think of how lucky he was to have the friends he did. Being accepted for something that was most commonly frowned upon filled him from head to toe with a warmth that overflowed through his eyes and his smile and rolled off his tongue into laughter. It made him feel strong, invincible. It wasn’t the same warmth that Richie made him feel, but that was something else entirely. 

It was still hard to fathom that he’d kissed Richie like 3 different times in the past few hours. He’d kissed _Richie_. Richie fucking Tozier. And Richie fucking Tozier had kissed him back. That was definitely something to brag about.

Eddie leant back against Richie, beaming brighter than the sun climbing higher in the sky with every passing minute. And time was frozen.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first Reddie oneshot/short story I've ever written lol, feedback is very much welcome.
> 
> yeah i'm reading back over this now and i hate it. go read my other stuff it's way better than this piece of shit.


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